


Obstinacy

by ToadstoolTea



Category: Tumbling
Genre: Because I Felt a Little Sorry for Him, Gen, Regret (or something like it), Yes His Two Lackeys Have Names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-26
Updated: 2014-04-26
Packaged: 2018-01-20 21:21:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1526216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToadstoolTea/pseuds/ToadstoolTea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-series.  Lest we forget, he was a child -- a lost soul -- like the rest of them.</p><p> <em>( And some things never change. )</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Obstinacy

He's moved on.

Akabane is able to watch through the rusting bars of the school gate without crying out, without the violent bursts of anger that have become all too common for him. It's a process that has taken weeks... months.

Still, he's not yet content to watch them. In the distance, those nine losers are chanting and jogging around the schoolyard, easy to spot in the shade of pink so absurd it makes his retinas bleed. His lips still twist into a snarl, his eyes still narrowed and his head still tips forward, grumbling words he's not even sure he understands anymore.

But he watches.

He doesn't even notice the girls filtering through the gates, sans those clunky blouses and their skirts hiked up a little higher. But he does notice the movement beside him. For a moment, he’s surprised when he sees Shiramine walking past them, then Konno following and he remembers -- they were not expelled.

When Akabane turns back towards campus and he can no longer see them (like he cares anyway, he's just curious about the bastards). He finds himself willing the two to hurry, and considering leaving them. He's started to feel a little sick in his chest the same way he does each time he visits Karasumori. It only makes sense that watching the group _literally_ makes him sick, he surmises.

Before it gets too bad, Shiramine and Konno return, the latter holding a weathered shopping bag in his clutches. After another fruitless glance through the school gates, Akabane turns back to the pair and his lackey relinquishes the bag. Curious, Akabane peers in, and is immediately disgusted by what he sees.

_"Motherfucker."_

Yet, he cannot help himself from examining it further, and he withdraws the bag's contents so that his two companions can see.

It is a shirt, in the same horrible hue of pink that the gymnastics losers are dressed in. As he pulls it out of the bag, the fabric falls from its careful folds, and it is the purple-and-white design. Yet more evident is the makeshift print surrounding it, a careful, accurate reproduction of one of his favorite animal prints. The rough edges and uneven coloring makes it evident that the design is done in magic marker, like the rest of the team's. In large, bold letters on the reverse side is his name: _AKABANE_.

And pinned to the hem is a note in that asshole Azuma's barely legible scrawl.

> The offer still stands!

The two erupt in a pair of equally ugly guffaws. Akabane does not offer threats, does not reach to strike the closest one to him. Instead, he's grumbling to himself once more. He storms away from Karasumori, balling up the shirt, but keeping it in his clutches. The faster he walks, the more he presses it against his chest when he realizes -- he doesn't feel sick anymore.

When he makes the connection, he can only make a twist his face about as much as he's twisting the tee.

"Goddammit, Azuma."


End file.
